1915 DC- Home
- Sources and method
Sources and method
Photographs
All 1160 photographs are from the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, found through the Library's public JSON API:
- National Photo Company Collection (about 35,000 glass negatives, 1909–1932), the Washington studio of Herbert E. French.
- Harris & Ewing Collection (1905–1945), a Washington news and portrait studio.
- Bain News Service (1900s–1920s), a New York news-photo agency that covered events in Washington.
- Detroit Publishing Company (1880s–1920s), publishers of view photographs and postcards.
Rights. We publish a photograph only if its catalogue record's rights statement begins “No known restrictions on publication” (or states that it is in the public domain). The rule is enforced by the build itself: a photograph without such a statement stops the site from being published. Statements such as “Rights status not evaluated” or “No known restrictions on reproduction” were left out. Each caption repeats the statement and links to the record, where the Library's full rights advisory for the collection can be read.
Selection. From 61,789 catalogue records we kept those dated between 1900 and 1932 whose titles name a place, a street, a building or an event rather than only a person (8,281 candidates), and ranked them by how strongly the title points to a scene. The first 4,200 were then looked at one by one on numbered contact sheets, and only clear, well-composed pictures of places, events and street life were chosen; damaged negatives, posed group portraits and runs of near-identical frames were left out. 1160 made the cut.
Images. Each photograph was downloaded once from the Library's image server, as its 1,024-pixel service copy (for the large cover pictures, from the uncompressed master scan), and re-encoded here as JPEGs 500 and 960 pixels across plus a full-size copy for the zoom viewer. We do not retouch, crop or tint the pictures. For the Library's full-resolution scan, often 5,000 pixels or more, follow the link in the caption.
Dates and places
Dates are the Library's, shown as the record gives them: a day where the caption card has one (“March 4, 1921”), otherwise a year or a range (“c. 1915–18”). Many National Photo Company dates are the date the negative was filed, which may be a little later than the event. Photographs whose only date is the studio's whole working life are marked “undated” in the filters.
Places come first from the Library's title and subject headings. Where the record does not name the place but the picture shows it unmistakably (the Capitol dome, the Treasury colonnade), we say “place probable”. Where the identification is our best judgement, we say “place uncertain”. Unidentified street scenes are collected under Around the city.
Captions are written for this site from the Library's title and what is visible in the picture. The Library's own title is in the linked record.
Checking the records: 30 photographs
To see how far the catalogue dates and places can be trusted, we checked 30 photographs, chosen to include the hard cases (undated studio work, events, and pictures whose place had to be worked out), against the Library's record and one other independent source: a dated event, a building's construction history, or a newspaper or government report cited on Wikipedia.
Result: 13 of 30 confirmed as catalogued; 17 corrected or refined, shown below and applied on the site.
| Photograph | Library's date / place | Second source | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Head of suffrage parade, Mar. 3, 1913 LOT 11052-2 [item] [P&P] | 1913 March 3.; place: Washington, D.C. | Wikipedia, 'Woman Suffrage Procession': the procession was held on Pennsylvania Avenue on March 3, 1913. | confirmed |
| People arriving for the Inauguration at Union Station PRES FILE - Taft, William H.--Inauguration [item] [P&P] | 1909 Feb. 29.; place: Union Station | Wikipedia, 'Inauguration of William Howard Taft': Taft was inaugurated on March 4, 1909, after a blizzard the night before. | corrected: The catalogue's 'Feb. 29, 1909' cannot be right: 1909 was not a leap year. We date it to the days before the March 4 inauguration. |
| First Division, A.E.F. Miscellaneous views of parade LC-H261- 30912 [P&P] | 1919.; place: not recorded | Wikipedia, '1st Infantry Division (United States)': after returning in September 1919 the division marched in victory parades in New York on 10 September and Washington, D.C. on 17 September. | refined: Narrowed from 1919 to the Washington parade of September 17, 1919. |
| Lincoln Memorial, corner stone laying LC-F82- 1037 [P&P] | [between 1910 and 1926]; place: Washington, D.C. | National Park Service, Lincoln Memorial 'Building Statistics' page: cornerstone laying ceremony February 12, 1915 (Wikipedia, 'Lincoln Memorial', gives the groundbreaking as February 12, 1914) | refined: Narrowed from 1910–1926 to the cornerstone ceremony, February 12, 1915. |
| Aerial view of Lincoln Memorial with snow LC-H234- A-4026 [P&P] | [1922 January or February]; place: Lincoln Memorial (devised title) | Wikipedia, 'Knickerbocker storm': the blizzard struck on January 27–28, 1922; 'Lincoln Memorial' gives the dedication as May 30, 1922, so the building was finished but not yet dedicated. | confirmed |
| 15th St. & Pennsylvania Ave. after a heavy snowfall LOT 12357-7 [item] [P&P] | [1922 January 29]; place: 15th St. & Pennsylvania Ave. | Wikipedia, 'Knickerbocker storm': the blizzard fell on January 27–28, 1922 and ended January 29, so a January 29 photograph shows its aftermath. | confirmed |
| Knickerbocker Theater LC-F8- 17913 [P&P] | [1922]; place: not recorded | Wikipedia, 'Knickerbocker Theatre (Washington, D.C.)': the roof collapsed under the snow shortly after 9 p.m. on January 28, 1922. | refined: Narrowed from 1922 to the collapse and rescue, January 28–29, 1922. |
| Key Bridge under const. LC-F8- 10306 [P&P] | [1920]; place: not recorded | Wikipedia, 'Key Bridge (Washington, D.C.)': work began in 1917–18 (first cofferdam May 1918) and the bridge opened on January 17, 1923, so it was under construction in 1920. | confirmed |
| Key Memorial Bridge LC-F82- 2186 [P&P] | [between 1916 and 1917]; place: not recorded | Wikipedia, 'Key Bridge (Washington, D.C.)': construction contracts were let in 1917 and the bridge opened on January 17, 1923. | corrected: The photograph shows the finished bridge, which did not exist in 1916–1917 (a range inferred from neighbouring negatives). Re-dated to after January 1923. |
| Mayflower Hotel (Conn. Ave. entrance) LC-F82- 1551 [P&P] | [between 1916 and 1917]; place: Washington, D.C. | Wikipedia, 'Mayflower Hotel': ground was broken in July 1922 and the hotel opened on February 18, 1925. | corrected: The hotel was not built until 1922–1925, so the catalogue's 1916–1917 (inferred from neighbouring negatives) is wrong. Re-dated to after February 1925. |
| Wilson reading inaugural address LC-F8- 3143 [P&P] | [between 1918 and 1920]; place: not recorded | Wikipedia, 'Second inauguration of Woodrow Wilson': Wilson's two inaugural addresses were given on March 4, 1913 ('First inauguration of Woodrow Wilson') and March 5, 1917; there was no inauguration in 1918–1920. | corrected: 1918–1920 is impossible for an inaugural address. Re-dated to 1913 or 1917; the photograph alone does not show which. |
| Crowds at cathedral, [2/7/24] LC-F8- 28833 [P&P] | [1924 February 7]; place: Washington National Cathedral | Wikipedia, 'Woodrow Wilson': Wilson died on February 3, 1924 and was interred in Washington National Cathedral ('Washington National Cathedral': his burial rites were held in the Bethlehem Chapel in 1924). | confirmed |
| Crowds at Wilson house, 2/2/24 LC-F8- 28596 [P&P] | [19]24 February 2.; place: Wilson house | Wikipedia, 'Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.)': the house is at 2340 S Street NW, and Wilson died there on February 3, 1924, the day after this photograph. | confirmed |
| Pacifists at White House [i.e. U.S. Capitol] LC-B2- 4173-12 [P&P] | [1917 April 2]; place: White House, corrected by the Library to U.S. Capitol | Wikipedia, 'American entry into World War I': Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war on April 2, 1917; 'Henry Cabot Lodge' records Lodge's fight with a pacifist constituent in the Capitol that day. | confirmed: The Library's own place correction (Capitol, not White House) is already applied on this site. |
| Cherry Blossoms, 3/21/27 LC-F8- 41004 [P&P] | [19]27 February 21.; place: not recorded | National Park Service, 'Peak Bloom & Blooming Period' (Bloom Watch): peak bloom usually falls between the last week of March and the first week of April; the earliest on record was March 15 (1990) | corrected: The catalogue's February 21 contradicts its own title (3/21/27), and blossom in February is far earlier than any recorded bloom. Re-dated to March 21, 1927, as the negative sleeve says. |
| Japanese cherry blossoms LC-D418-73523 [P&P] | [between 1900 and 1915]; place: Along the Tidal Basin | Wikipedia, 'National Cherry Blossom Festival': the first of the Japanese gift trees were planted on the Tidal Basin on March 27, 1912. | refined: The trees could not have bloomed here before 1912, so 1900–1915 is narrowed to 1912–1915. |
| Columbus Fountain being prepared for its dedication LC-B2- 2497-4 [P&P] | [1912 June]; place: Union Station | Wikipedia, 'Columbus Fountain': installed March–June 1912 and unveiled during celebrations held June 7–9, 1912 ('Columbus Circle (Washington, D.C.)': unveiled June 8, 1912). | confirmed |
| Air Mail. Inauguration of service, Polo Field LC-H261- 24652 [P&P] | 1918 May.; place: Polo field | Wikipedia, 'United States airmail service': scheduled airmail began on May 15, 1918, flying from the Washington Polo Grounds ('First Air Mail Marker': the marker in West Potomac Park commemorates the May 15, 1918 departure). | refined: Narrowed from May 1918 to the first day of service, May 15, 1918. |
| Parade on Pennsylvania Ave. West Virginia G.A.R. unit LC-H261- 46 [P&P] | 1915.; place: Pennsylvania Ave. | Monthly Catalogue of U.S. Public Documents (via UNT Libraries): an executive order closed federal departments in Washington on Sept. 29, 1915 'on occasion of parade of Grand Army encampment'; the 49th National Encampment ran Sept. 27–Oct. 2, 1915 (souvenir programme, Cornell University Library) | refined: Narrowed from 1915 to the G.A.R. encampment parade, September 29, 1915. |
| Parade on Pennsylvania Ave. South Dakota unit LC-H261- 36 [P&P] | [between 1910 and 1921]; place: Pennsylvania Ave. | Monthly Catalogue of U.S. Public Documents (via UNT Libraries): the Grand Army encampment parade in Washington was on Sept. 29, 1915; the same Harris & Ewing run (LC-H261-29 to -50, state units) includes LC-H261-46, 'West Virginia G.A.R. unit', dated 1915 | refined: Probable refinement, not certain: by its place in a run of state-unit parade negatives that includes a dated 1915 G.A.R. unit, this is probably the September 29, 1915 encampment parade rather than 1910–1921. Not in our published set, so nothing changed on the site. |
| Inauguration, 1921. Crowds LC-F81- 12374 [P&P] | 1921.; place: not recorded | Wikipedia, 'Inauguration of Warren G. Harding': Harding was inaugurated at the Capitol's East Portico on March 4, 1921. | refined: Narrowed from 1921 to inauguration day, March 4, 1921. |
| Construction of inaugural stands at Capitol, [2/3/25] LC-F81- 34126 [P&P] | [1925 February 3]; place: Capitol | Wikipedia, 'Second inauguration of Calvin Coolidge': Coolidge was inaugurated at the Capitol's East Portico on March 4, 1925, a month after these stands were going up. | confirmed |
| Scene at the Executive Offices of the White House during the fire LOT 12299, vol. 4, p. 18 <item> [P&P] | 1929 Dec. 26.; place: White House Executive Offices | Wikipedia, 'West Wing': on December 24, 1929 the West Wing was badly damaged by a four-alarm fire. | corrected: A photograph taken during the fire dates to December 24, 1929, not December 26 (probably the date it was filed or published). |
| Lincoln Memorial - exterior, under construction LOT 12359-1-A [item] [P&P] | 1916 [July?].; place: Lincoln Memorial | Wikipedia, 'Lincoln Memorial': ground was broken on February 12, 1914, construction began the following month, and the memorial was dedicated on May 30, 1922. | confirmed |
| Pershing parade on Pa. Ave. LC-F8- 44238 [P&P] | [between 1909 and 1923]; place: Pennsylvania Ave. | Wikipedia, '1st Infantry Division (United States)': the AEF's victory parade in Washington was held on 17 September 1919; 'Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site': Pershing led the American Expeditionary Force in review up Pennsylvania Avenue in 1919. | refined: Narrowed from 1909–1923 to Pershing's victory parade, September 17, 1919. |
| Ku Klux Klan parade on Pennsylvania Ave. [bird's-eye view] LOT 12354-1 [item] [P&P] | 1926 Sept. 13.; place: Pennsylvania Ave. | Wikipedia, 'Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site': the Klan marched on the avenue on August 8, 1925 and repeated the march in 1926; the article's photograph of the 1926 parade is dated September 13, 1926. | confirmed |
| K.K.K. parade, 8/8/25 LC-F8- 36604 [P&P] | [19]25 August 8.; place: not recorded | Wikipedia, 'Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site': on August 8, 1925, at least 25,000 and perhaps as many as 75,000 Klan members marched on Pennsylvania Avenue. | confirmed |
| Crowds at the Washington Monument grounds to welcome Lindbergh LOT 12299 v.2, p. 2 [item] [P&P] | [1927 June 11]; place: Washington Monument grounds | Wikipedia, 'Charles Lindbergh': Lindbergh arrived back in Washington aboard USS Memphis on June 11, 1927, and Coolidge presented his Distinguished Flying Cross that day. | confirmed |
| Atwood, Harry. Rising from White House lawn, July, 1911 LC-H261- 437 [P&P] | 1911 July.; place: White House lawn | Wikipedia, 'Harry Atwood': after flying from Boston he landed on the White House lawn on July 14, 1911 ('Aviation in Washington, D.C.': Taft presented him a medal there that day). | refined: Narrowed from July 1911 to the day of the White House landing, July 14, 1911. |
| Preparedness Parade. Colored drum major in parade LC-H261- 5489 [P&P] | 1916.; place: not recorded | The Washington Times, '1916: A Flag Day to remember' (June 13, 2016): Washington's Preparedness Parade, led on foot by President Wilson, marched along Pennsylvania Avenue on Flag Day, June 14, 1916 | refined: Narrowed from 1916 to the parade day, June 14, 1916. |
History and “what's there now”
The histories, timeline and notes are written for this site. Facts were checked against Wikipedia and Wikidata (each place page and timeline entry links the article we checked against) and, for dates of events shown in photographs, against the Library's records. Where sources disagree we say so. We do not use modern photographs of any kind; “what's there now” and “then and now” are described in words.
The map
The map is drawn for this site from the U.S. Census Bureau's TIGER/Line 2024 shapefiles for the District of Columbia (public domain): the District boundary, water, parks and landmarks, and today's street network with post-1950 freeways left out so that the grid reads more like the city of the 1910s. Place coordinates are from Wikidata (CC0) and Wikipedia.
Licences
- Photographs: Library of Congress, no known restrictions on publication.
- Map data: U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line, public domain (U.S. government work).
- Coordinates and identifiers: Wikidata, CC0.
- Text: written for this site; facts checked against Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), which is linked but not copied.
How the site stays current
The site is rebuilt every Thursday. Each rebuild re-checks a share of the photographs' catalogue records against the Library (so a changed rights statement would remove a photograph), picks the “this week” photographs for the coming days and refreshes the photograph of the day, which your browser chooses from the reader's own date.